Once Upon a Mattress (2005)

In this hilarious tweaking of the fairy tale, "The Princess and the Pea", Queen Aggravain has ruled that none may marry until her son, Prince Dauntless marries. However, she has managed to ... See full summary »

Director:

Kathleen Marshall

Writers:

Marshall Barer (musical), Dean Fuller (musical),

Stars:

Carol Burnett, Brittany Gray, Tracey Ullman

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Credited cast:
Carol Burnett	...	Queen Aggravain
Brittany Gray	...	Ensemble
Tracey Ullman	...	Princess Winnifred
Denis O'Hare	...	Prince Dauntless
Zooey Deschanel	...	Lady Larken
Matthew Morrison	...	Sir Harry
Michael Boatman	...	The Jester
Tom Smothers	...	King Sextimus
Edward Hibbert	...	The Wizard
Michelle Harrison	...	Princess #12
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Scott Augustine	...	Dancing Knight
Paul Becker	...	Knight
Linda Bernath	...	Dancer
Jordan Cable	...	Dancing Knight
Stephenos Christou	...	Dancing Knight

Storyline

In this hilarious tweaking of the fairy tale, "The Princess and the Pea", Queen Aggravain has ruled that none may marry until her son, Prince Dauntless marries. However, she has managed to sabotage every princess that come along. When Sir Harry and Lady Larken learn that they are going to be parents, wed or not, he goes off to the swamps and brings back Princess Winnifred ("Fred" to her friends). The queen is horrified and immediately begins to scheme, but Winnifred, with some help from Sir Harry, the King, and the Jester, isn't going to be quite so easy to get rid of.

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Plot Keywords:

princess | queen | king | prince | singer | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 December 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

C'era una volta una principessa

Company Credits

Production Co:

ABC Video, Mattress Productions Ltd., Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original Broadway production of "Once Upon A Mattress" opened at the Phoenix Theater (At a total of five separate theaters!) on May 1, 1959, ran for 244 performances and was nominated for the 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical. Carol Burnett was nominated for the 1960 Tony Award for Actress in a Musical.

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Goofs

During the Happily Ever After number, Princess Fred gets up on the table and kicks off the books stacked there but when we look down a few seconds later the stack she just kicked off on the right side of the table as we face it has returned.

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Quotes

Queen Aggravain: Goodbye, good luck, get out.

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Connections

Version of Once Upon a Mattress (1972)

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Soundtracks

"Happily Ever After"
Music by Mary Rodgers
Lyrics by Marshall Barer
Sung by Tracey Ullman

User Reviews

generally fun, with reservations

I barely remember the 1972 television version of this, so it's probably unfair to say that one was better. But my impression is it was better, simply because Burnette played Winnifred. This is not to say Tracey Ullman was bad. Ullman is tremendously talented and she does a good job, but she was too restrained in the part. Burnette perfectly captured the world's least appropriate princess, but Ullman actually comes across as fairly sweet and gentle, at most mildly eccentric and occasionally slightly loud. It doesn't help that Burnette cannot completely contain her inherent wackiness; the play feels as though it should be a contrast between a cold, imperious queen and a wild, tomboyish princess, but the distance between Ullman and Burnette doesn't seem that great.

Still, it's a fun musical with many amusing moments and a good cast. And who knows, maybe if I saw that 1972 version I'd say, this isn't nearly as good as I remember.